Project category: New construction (completed June 2011)

Chief administrator: Loree Collette, Clinical Nurse Lead, (734) 936-6262

Firm: HKS, (214) 969-5599

Design Team: John Bienko, Project Manager; Ron Dennis, Principal in Charge; Doug Compton, Design Architect; Rachel Saucier, Architectural Planner; Penny Wright, Contract Administration; Iris Dates, Interior Designer

Photography: Blake Marvin

Total building area (sq. ft.): 1,100,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $399

Total construction cost (excluding land): $439,281,000

The new CS Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voitlander Women’s Hospital is designed to create a healing environment  that supports the academic, research, and clinical care missions of the University of Michigan Health System.

Located at the University of Michigan Medical Center, the building hosts wide spans of glass that allows natural daylighting and views to nature from its location across from the Nichols Arboretum.  The design incorporates colors and materials that gesture to the existing campus while incorporating curved forms and building insets that relate to the arboretum.

The hospital building is 12 stories with one story below grade and the clinic building is 9 stories. Mechanical floors between the diagnostic and treatment floors and the patient care units are expressed with recessed facades and louvers. CS Mott has 855,000 SF of inpatient space and 245,000 SF of outpatient clinics and offices.

Inside, the environment is playful and inviting for children and sophisticated and meaningful for women.  A skylit canopy greets guests while a two-story lobby and waiting area – overlooking dramatic outdoor courtyards – creates an inviting entry into the facility.  The lobby also connects to the existing Taubman Clinic and the medical center.  A glassed skybridge will provide a pedestrian connection from the Simpson parking garage to the upper lobby level.

The building’s architecture is composed of a simple palette of materials – limestone colored precast concrete, glass, and metal panels.  Two tones of precast color will emphasize the building’s forms and two colors of metal panels will help moderate the tall floor heights and add interest to the façade.